Apple Debuts New Appstore.com URLs during Super Bowl

Apple launched a new product during last night’s Super Bowl ads! But not in the way you might expect. While BlackBerry and Samsung spent big bucks on producing a Super Bowl ad (both of which have been greeted with less than positive reviews), Apple chose to do things a little bit more stealthily.

At the end of the commercial for the new Star Trek movie, Cupertino introduced its new short vanity URL’s for “Appstore.com.” Eagle-eyed ad watchers, such as Josh Lowensohn from CNET who was first to pick up on the ad, will have noticed that viewers were encouraged to head over to Appstore.com/StarTrekApp for details and ticket information. This subtle introduction is big news for developers, who can now benefit from shorter, more memorable, and easy searchable app links, and the huge increase in traffic that will naturally follow.

Developers submitting applications to either the iTunes or Mac App Store’s will instantly receive a shortened URL and Apple’s Developer Library has been updated with all the necessary information on the new release. According to the documentation, you can now…

“…create easy-to-read links to your app using App Store Short Links, which use the AppStore.com base URL plus a specific form of your app or company name. This provides a simple way for users to find your apps on the App Store directly from your website or marketing campaigns. These short links are ideal for use in offline communications materials like print ads, TV spots, app trailers, radio ads and billboards.”

Also provided are examples of App Store short links of which there are three types in two forms – one for Mac and one for iOS.

With this introduction, we can expect to see Appstore.com URLs appearing everywhere in the media, rivaling the popular Facebook equivalent. It will also mean intense competition for the incredibly crowded App Store.

Apple is encouraging developers to come up with unique names for apps, and has pointed out that URLs with multiple results will see users directed to a search engine.

Samsung came with the star names for its Super Bowl ad, and BlackBerry decided to show everything that the z10 can’t do in 30 seconds for theirs (who came up with that idea?). However, both were upstaged by Apple, which showed that if you know what you’re doing, you don’t even need an advert of your own to have the biggest impact.